Face Down
by sing.us.a.song.21
Summary: An AU oneshot about when Annabeth visits New York to look for colleges. PercyxAnnabeth


Face Down

The black bruises had haunted me in my darkest nightmares for years. They would contrast hideously with the soft, tan skin. The dark purples and blues, with scarlet dripping slowly and sickeningly from the blonde ringlets. The gray eyes would swim with tears, one of them swollen and red. She would beg with me. Plead with me. Ask what's wrong and then scream as a hand flew towards her. And then it would go black, the bloodcurdling scream still resounding it's chilling sound. And I would wake, shivering with sweat. I would clench my blue silk sheets into fists until the sound of the ocean calmed me down. And if that didn't work, I would take a walk, making sure to pass the window to cabin 8, where I could see Annabeth's moonlit face, peaceful and more relaxed then I ever see her in her waking hours.

They were just nightmares. They would never come true, I would make sure of it.

I sleepily opened my eyes as blinding light filtered through my thin curtains. I loved not having to get up for school anymore. I still couldn't believe I could say that. I was officially a high school graduate. Thank the gods. But it was a bitter sweet victory. No more school meant I was 18. Which also meant no more camp. The ache of longing had already settled in my chest. But I tried not to think about it. Instead I thought of a smirking girl and a voice saying "Come on, Seaweed Brain. Get up already!"

"Fine," I groaned to the absent girl. I reluctantly climbed out of bed and pulled on the closest t-shirt I could find. It took me a minute to realize what day it was. June 19th. I had been counting down to this day for weeks. Annabeth was coming to look at colleges. And she was staying with me. I looked at the clock, wondering how long till she came. It was about noon. So an hour. I groaned, before shuffling into the kitchen to find some food. The hour crawled by so slowly I probably could have made it to Hades' and back before it ended. Just as I was staring comatose at the black TV screen, a sound echoed up all five flights and to my ears. A car door slamming. Feet lightly making their way up the stairs, and a not so light object being dragged behind them. My entire body was alert of that girls presence drawing nearer with each flight. Every sense was more aware of everything then it had been in months. I heard exactly when she set down her suitcase outside my door, felt the stillness as she took a breathe before she knocked, and then the three sharp raps that stopped my breath. At first, I couldn't move. And then my ADHD kicked in and I was at the door in a second, swinging it open to look at the face that had floated behind my eyes for months.

The second I saw her broad smile, a bitterness I hadn't noticed was there, vanished. Her gray eyes were full of light and she was laughing, most likely at my expression. But then, I finally really looked and saw something very, very wrong. For a moment I thought I had never woken up. Because around one of those spheres of storm clouds, was a greenish bruise, obviously a few days old. There was a red cut at her hairline. A purple, oddly shaped bruise was peeking out from below her sleeve. Her wrist was wrapped up, and she was standing with a strange tenderness on her right leg. The smile vanished from my face. Every good, happy feeling was immediately replaced with concern and under that a boiling, consuming anger.

"Annabeth," Her face fell when she heard the biting, vicious rage that filled my voice. She knew I had seen. But she continued with her facade, the smile returning, pretending she didn't know. Which wasn't Annabeth. She didn't play dumb. If she knew something, she would be willing to die to let you know that she knew.

"Percy," she replied, her voice light and teasing. Usually, when she had that tone, her eyes sparkled, her grin was infectious and I couldn't resist laughing. Now, however, her eyes were light only on the surface, while blank nothingness was buried beneath. She was smiling, but the smile was overly bright, too bubbly for an Annabeth smile. "Are you going to let me in?"

I stood aside, my arms and legs moving mechanically. I'd never been in shock before, but I was pretty sure this was how it felt. After she had set her suitcase down in the living room with a thud that made me fairly positive it was more then half filled with books, she turned to face me. I tried as hard as I could to not see that bruise, that cut, the small winces she gave. But it was impossible.

"You get in a fight?" I asked, trying to unglue my jaw. I could feel my eyebrow jerk up in the expression that always came about when I was asking a sarcastic question. Annabeth didn't get in fights. Not with mortals, anyway. And when she fought with a monster, she never got that hurt.

"Yep. You should've been there, it was quite... impressive." She quipped lightly back. But I noticed her stance. Arms loose to her side, weight evenly on her feet with one slightly more forward then the other, chin raised and tilted just a few degrees. That was position she used to take when we would train and she knew I was about to attack. Her defensive stance. I wanted to snap at her. Yell at her to tell me who hurt her and where they were and if I should take Riptide or if I would need a blade that could harm a mortal. I think she could see that in my face, cause her smile dropped away. "You don't believe me," she accused.

"No, I don't." That made her mad. She demanded why and I answered by demanding why she was lying to me. When had my voice gotten so loud? When had we gotten so close to each other, screaming in the others face?

"I'm not lying! There was a monster, Percy, and I didn't get to my knife in time. It got to me first. It happens!"

"This monster somehow managed to hit you in the face while you were carrying a knife? Since when have monsters been able to do that to you of all people? You're fifty times better then any demon I've ever seen! And the bruise on your wrist is shaped like a hand! Honestly, Annabeth, you're not stupid! Stop making up stupid stories that don't make sense and tell me the truth!" This was not good. Her face was livid, her eyes brighter then usual. And yet, still in the depths of the storm clouds, there was nothing but emptiness. I would make whoever, or whatever, had done this to her pay dearly.

She was shaking with rage. I thought it was rage, at least. Until I saw her bottom lip tremble. She was looking up and away from me. And then a tear fell. What was wrong with her? We'd fought hundreds of times before but she'd never cried. She was too strong for that. But here she was, in my living room, after only being here for less then an hour, and I had made her cry because of a fight.

"Oh, gods, Annabeth. I'm sorry. Let's just forget it, ok?" It was a lame apology. It did nothing to help. She took a deep breath through her nose and looked at me, anger and pain radiating from her.

"No, Percy. I won't forget it. After all these years, I can't believe that you don't trust me," her voice accused. That was a slap in the face. I trusted her with my life, and more importantly, with her own life. I was rooted to the spot, my seaweed filled brain to slow to come up with a response before she walked out the door. I knew she would come back, she had left her suitcase and she had no where else to go, but it still stung that she had walked away over something that seemed so trivial.

I spent the rest of the day alternating between anger and sadness. I would walk around for awhile, storming to the emptiness about the person who'd hurt the most precious girl in the world and about how Annabeth was overreacting over such a stupid thing. And then I would spend a while sitting on my couch or my bed in silence, feeling a knawing, inextinguishable guilt. I had promised myself that I wouldn't let anyone hurt her. I had sworn to never make her cry. I had failed at both.

I didn't realize it was night until I ran into the end of my bed because it was so dark. I had never turned on the light. I went into the bathroom and glared at myself in the mirror as I brushed my teeth. I hated myself right now as if I had been the one hitting Annabeth. I might as well have been. I went back to my bedroom, stripped off my shirt and collapsed on my bed. I don't know when I drifted off, but I knew all the times I woke up. 1:09, 2:12, 2:56, and so it went on. By the time 4:24 rolled around, I'd almost given up on the whole institution. I stared at my black wall, images of bruises and dripping scarlet and the sound of a heart wrenching scream echoing in my head. I had never heard the door open. Annabeth wasn't back yet. I was worried sick. I sat up and looked out my window. And saw someone looking back. The window was open and the girl with the blonde hair pulled inside before I had taken another breath. I pulled her to me and breathed trembling, relieved breaths.

"Ow, Percy. Please let go," Annabeth asked in a broken voice. I immediately drew back, my hands on her shoulders. I studied her by the faint light from the street lamp outside. It looked like she'd been picking fights with ally cats all night. I felt sick when I saw the dark streak in her hair, the purple on her neck, the way she held her arm curled against her chest. She swayed and my hands tightened on her shoulders to steady her. I led her to my bed and sat her down, kneeling on the floor in front of her. She was taking uneven, shallow breaths as if it hurt. I had a feeling she had bruised or cracked ribs. I didn't have to ask her to tell me what happened, she could see it in my face.

"I'm so sorry, Percy. I'm so, so sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you and accused you of not trusting me and lied to you. I should have told you about Sam, I should have told you mo-months ago. I-I was worried ab-about what you would s-say." I stopped her there because it was almost impossible to understand what she was trying to say. I pulled her to the ground next to me and she responded easily, resting her forehead against my neck, her injured hand resting against my bare chest. The tears dripped onto my shoulder, seeming to burn like acid yet cool like the ocean. I turned us, pulling her more securely to me and resting my back against the bed. I was trying to be careful, as to not jostle her injuries. The pain in her sobs, in the way she kept whispering apologies felt like a thousand knifes being inserted carefully between my ribs. I felt my own eyes burn with tears at the sheer pain of it all. I found myself whispering back things that I had never intended to say out loud.

"I'm just glad you're safe, darling," I informed her, my lips so close to her ear I could feel them brush against the soft skin. "I was so worried, sweetheart. It's ok, Annabeth. It's alright, love." This mantra continued for several minutes as her sobs calmed and the tears dripped onto my chest less and less often. Though once the tears had stopped, she made no move to pull away. She took another shaky breath and continued her story.

"I met Sam at an architectural convention in San Francisco. He was funny and sweet and he liked the same stuff I did. And he was always the perfect gentlemen," she had to pause while she took another gasping breath. I felt dizzy and sick. "I didn't tell you because it didn't... feel right. I felt guilty, like I was cheating or something. Anyway, we went out a lot and he never showed any signs of a temper. And then I told him I wanted to come here for school and that I was going to stay with you. He just... snapped. He started throwing things and shouting that I had lied about loving him. He was totally insane, I had never told him I loved him. That was the first time he hit me. I tried to work things out, to calm him down because I thought he was what I wanted." Another pause. She shifted her head, lifting it to look at me. Her grey eyes were swimming with new tears but she blinked them back easily.

"I was relieved to get on the plane, I wanted to be away from him. I went to the park after our fight, I was only going to stay for a little while and cool off. But he was there, he'd followed me, Percy. He-he said he just wanted to talk. That he would stay on one bench and I would be one the other and I knew if he tried to do anything I could get away without any problem. We didn't talk very long before he said he wanted to go to his hotel room, because the park was too public. I wasn't going to fall for that, but then he grabbed a little girl passing by and pulled a knife on her. He said he would kill her if I didn't go, Percy, what was I supposed to do?" She asked, her voice choked. I was so tense my shoulders and back were beginning to cramp up. What kind of sick, evil freak was this Sam guy? She placed her good hand on my cheek and made me look at her. "Just listen, please. So I went with him for a little bit. We were walking and he had his arm around me so no one could see the knife. I had my own in my sleeve, but he was pinning my arm to my side. I waited until we were by an ally before I tried anything. But he was good, Percy, with a style I'd never fought with before. We fought for a long time, but I couldn't do any damage with my knife. I finally got away after stabbing him in the calf with his own knife. And that's the whole story," she whispered.

I was shaking. I was shaking with horror at the fact that not only had this happened, but that it had happened to Annabeth. My Annabeth. The only girl in the world who actually scared me, but the only one who actually made me happy too. I lowered my eyes to look into her grey ones. It felt so right to have her in my arms. To have her _safe _in my arms.

"I promise," I growled. "No, I swear on the River Styx that I will never let anything like that happen to you again without me giving my life up first. I only wish I could have done it for you this time."

"That means you'll always be there. That's more then enough," She whispered into my chest, her head in the hollow under my shoulder. I bent and kissed her forehead without thinking. Then I realized what I had done and I tensed, waiting for the onslaught of anger or confusion or something. She just sighed contentedly. I smiled before picking her up, cradling her against my chest.

"Percy?" She asked.

"Yeah?"

"Do you always sleep without a shirt?" I just laughed as I set her onto my bed and pulled the blankets up to her shoulders. I kissed her forehead again just because I could. I settled onto the floor of my room with a blanket and a pillow.

"Goodnight, Wise Girl."

"Goodnight, Seaweed Brain." I turned and smiled at the face of the girl I loved, looking peaceful even with the bruises and cuts, as she drifted to sleep in my bed.

**Author's Note- I know, Annabeth is a little OOC, but I kind of needed her to be that way. This story was inspired by me listening to Face Down by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, though it doesn't really go along with the lyrics. Hope you enjoyed the read, please review if you have anything to say!**


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